In recent years, clinical laboratory management systems for collectively managing various types of clinical laboratory work have become widely used in medical treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Such systems perform managed examination operations, such as examination scheduling, examination reception, printing barcode labels for adherence to sample containers such as blood collection vials and the like, printing work sheets such as examination sequence guidelines, transporting samples to the laboratory, assays using various analyzers, assay result tabulation, validation (confirmation of assay results), re-examination instructions, assay result reports, and the like.
Such clinical laboratory management systems are formed using a server computer as the basis of the system, to which input/output terminals in the form of client computers are connected over a network. Furthermore, analyzers connected to this system automatically input an assay result obtained by assaying a sample to the system over the network, and this result is ultimately reported to the party who originally requested the examination.
There may be times when a sample, such as blood (e.g., whole blood, serum, plasma), urine or the like is examined using an analyzer, and the fluid volume of the sample is not the minimum volume required for measurement by the analyzer. For example, there may be times when a sufficient quantity of sample cannot be collected from a patient because the patient is an infant, when a sample must be apportioned in accordance with the number of examinations to be performed, and when a sample which has already been assayed once requires re-examination. At such times, when a supplementary sample cannot be collected, the assay may be performed after diluting the sample to a predetermined degree. First, the sample is diluted by increasing the fluid volume so as to be sufficient for the assay (dilute sample preparation). Then, the sample is assayed using the same analyzer as used for an undiluted sample (normal sample). Subsequently, the result of the assay is corrected based on the degree of dilution, and the corrected result is used as the final assay result.
In recent years, analyzers capable of assay mode selection, which perform assays by selecting between a normal mode for assaying normal samples and a dilution mode for assaying dilute samples, have been used to improve analyzer functionality. When performing an assay in the normal mode, the assay is performed using a normal sample which is not diluted, and the obtained assay result is output. However, when performing an assay in the dilution mode, a dilute sample is prepared by diluting a sample to a predetermined degree and performing the assay. The analyzer then corrects the obtained assay result based on a predetermined degree of dilution stored in memory beforehand, and this corrected assay result is output as the final assay result. If this analyzer is connected to the system, the assay result is automatically input to the system (online input).
When a dilute sample is assayed using an analyzer which does not have a dilution mode and the assay result is input to the clinical laboratory management system, the assay result is not automatically input from the analyzer to the system (online input), but rather is input by the following procedure. First, the assay is performed using an analyzer. Then, a laboratory technician performs corrective calculations on the assay result. The corrected result is then manually input (offline input) to the system from an input terminal as the final assay result. When the result of a dilute sample assay is automatically input directly from an analyzer to the system (online input), the uncorrected result of the assayed dilute sample is undistinguished from an assay result of a normal sample, such that the sample may be perceived as an abnormal assay result even if the sample is collected from a healthy patient.
When an analyzer without a dilution mode is connected to a system in this way, the assay result cannot be input to the system via online input when a dilute sample is assayed. When normal samples and dilute samples are mixed among the samples to be assayed, various disadvantages arise inasmuch as the assay results of the samples cannot be input online, the normal samples and dilute samples must be separated before performing the assay, thereby complicating the examination operation and reducing work efficiency. Although these problems can be resolved if all the analyzers connected to the system are provided with a dilution mode, such an arrangement would limit the types of analyzers which could be connected to the system, thereby restricting design freedom when constructing or expanding the system.
In terms of advancing clinical examination operations by allowing the mixed use of normal samples and dilute samples, it is desirable that operation efficiency is improved so as to prevent mishandling of samples, and to allow easier handling of complex samples, such as preparing dilute samples and the like.